Editorial: Open space fire protection deserves full review

TAKING A FRESH LOOK at Marin's strategies for protecting homes and neighborhoods that border open spaces is good public policy.

Making absolutely certain that homeowners and residents are informed and involved in any proposed changes is imperative. So is making sure that strategies reflect the professional knowledge of local firefighting officials, those who will be risking their lives to rescue people and homes.

It is a balancing act because of Marin residents' awareness about the habitat importance of these open lands. Locally, there has been debate over using controlled burns and brush clearance to create fire breaks at strategic locations.

County supervisors on Tuesday will hear a report by a consultant who recommends a change in the county's strategy, shifting fire-prevention focus away from annual removal of brush on Marin's open hillsides. The report assesses wildlife damage as a result of the current approach.

From a fire protection vantage point, the report says, homes would be made safer by creating "defensible space" — a buffer between trees and shrubs and a house.

Protecting wildland habitat is reflected in priorities and strategies used by the National Park Service.

Locally, it was raised during the 1995 Vision blaze, when wildfire, after already burning homes and acreage in Inverness, was racing across the Point Reyes National Seashore.

Afterward, there was criticism of park officials' OK to allow bulldozers to create emergency firebreaks on park land. Those breaks, however, were credited for helping stop the blaze before it reached homes in Bolinas.

Such breaks are designed to slow the spread of fire by removing fuel. They give firefighters a fighting chance to catch up to a fire and stop it in its tracks.

The county stepped up its creation of fire breaks after home insurance companies, in the wake of the Vision and Oakland Hills fires, decided to reduce their risk exposure by not renewing coverage of homes in Marin's hillsides. The county and cities got serious about fire safety, from improving access for fire trucks and promoting greater public awareness to creating a county crew dedicated to creating fire-safety buffers.

But in seeking to afford greater protection for homes, the buffers also damage habitat for plants and animals.

The county report, at the very least, may reinforce the need for firefighters and open space managers to work together in determining the locations and size of firebreaks.

There's always room for improvement.

But this is not simply an academic or bureaucratic exercise. This debate can affect lives and homes.

Supervisors, in considering changes to the fire protection strategy, need to make sure that fire officials have a voice in the process.

Homeowners also should be advised of any changes before decisions are made. Their insurance companies likely be paying close attention to the public discussion.